


Homecoming

by JokesterJay



Category: Elfquest
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drabble, F/M, Ficlet, Fluff, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-15
Updated: 2015-10-15
Packaged: 2018-04-26 12:35:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5005012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JokesterJay/pseuds/JokesterJay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nightfall comes home late from teaching archery and searches for Redlance.<br/>Fluffy short AU fic of one of my favourite couples in the whole series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homecoming

It was very late at night when Nightfall returned home from teaching archery at the community centre. She locked the door behind her and plunked her bow and arrows down next to the shoe rack, carefully slipping off her boots and listening for sounds of her lifemate. She straightened up and stretched, figuring he was asleep already due to the lack of noise.

The evening heat of the summer permeated their small house, making it more warm and welcoming than it already was. Nightfall passed the small table by the entrance, lightly running her fingers over a small porcelain bowl where she and Redlance tossed their keys. When they had moved in and gone furniture shopping, she had fallen in love with the painted wolves on the dish and Redlance bought it for her, unable to deny her anything.

Silently, so as not to make a single floorboard creak, she glid into all of the rooms where Redlance was wont to fall asleep waiting up for her. The living room? She ducked her head inside, quickly glancing at the worn couches and chairs they had bought secondhand: no sign of Redlance. He’d left his botanical books out again though, she noted, spying them in a stack on the table. She walked in and took them, putting them back on the shelf before heading to the kitchen.

Redlance had been here, and very recently. His scent was still fresh, and she noticed that he’d left her dinner on a hot plate. She’d sit down and eat it once she found Redlance, she decided, turning away and peering into their garden. Their wolf friends were curled up by the big oak tree in the far corner of the garden, asleep. She squinted her eyes and noticed a figure in the middle of their garden.

Nightfall cautiously opened the door and the screen, and made her way towards it. As she got closer; she chuckled, noticing that the figure was actually a sleeping Redlance, bundled up in blankets like a cocoon. He must have fallen asleep while tending to the seedlings he’d planted for fresh herbs. Nightfall kneeled by him and touched his mind with a thought. He stirred, sleepily responding with a thought-acknowledgement. 

Nightfall took him into her arms, lifting him carefully. She carried him back inside as if he were a child, and set him down in their room. He blearily opened his eyes, and, too tired to talk, began to send. 

“Twen? You’re home,” he sent, his thoughts touching hers sleepily. She kissed his forehead. “Sweet Ulm, what were you doing sleeping outside? You’ve got a lot of mosquito bites on you now.”

He wrinkled his nose and closed his eyes once more. “I wanted to see how the plants were doing. I must have fallen asleep some time after. Did you eat?”

Nightfall touched foreheads with him and responded with a soft whisper, “I’ll eat now. Go back to sleep.” He gave her a small acknowledgement and rolled over as she went downstairs.  


She ate quickly, feeling the aches of her muscles creeping up on her. Nightfall left her plate in the sink and washed up, resolving to leave the especially late archery classes to Strongbow to teach. Nightfall slipped into more comfortable clothes and climbed into bed to curl up against Redlance, thinking back to the times when small moments of peace like this were few and paid for dearly. 

She was grateful that she didn’t need to hold Redlance like this time might be their last time, and her last thought before finally letting sleep take her was that the cost of their peace of mind was well worth it. They kept each other safe, sane, and they loved each other more purely than she believed was possible. That was all that mattered.


End file.
